Society of the week: Medieval Re-enactment Soc

On Sunday afternoon I turned up to the Medieval Re-enactment Society and, to be honest, it was quite fun.

Arriving with no knowledge at all of medieval re-enactments, I was expecting people trying to meticulously recreate battles from ancient times. I was wrong.

At no point during the session was there any battle re-enacting: apparently they only do that from time to time.

They actually focus on one-on-one combat with massive wooden swords, described as a form of martial art.

They were kind enough to let me have a go.

I was given a sword and was first taught how to stand properly because apparently I haven’t been doing that properly for the last 19 years.

Once I knew how to stand, I got to grips with the most simple manoeuvres.

Everything they were teaching on Sunday was taken from what was essentially a sword-fighting textbook from the 16th century which is fairly incomplete, so their leader, AJ, has started to write his own textbook that people are now starting to use.

But the best bit by a mile was watching the members fight each other. They were so fast and skilful, even though they hadn’t actually been doing it for that long.

I was looking forward to meeting sword legend AJ, who I had been emailing but he was away at a punk festival this weekend. Fortunately I was assured I could meet him at one of their biannual feasts, usually held in a local church hall.

They meet every Sunday at Bruntsfield Links at 2pm and are open to beginners, no previous sword skills necessary.